Lawyers, paralegals battle over rules and penalties

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 1999 | 11:19 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Carlos Camarena paid a paralegal company $3,000 to clear up his and his wife's status in this country. He was assured that immigration papers would be filled out properly and his case handled.

But now, his lawyer, Steven Klearman of Reno, told the Assembly Judiciary Committee Monday, Camarena "stands a good chance of being deported."

The testimony was the opening battle between attorneys and paralegals over a bill to tighten regulation over paralegals and increase the penalty for practicing law without a license.

In the meantime, Klearman said, the Nevada State Bar Association, has secured a court order against Amigo Services to prevent the same problems from arising in the future.

The State Bar has already been unsuccessful twice in persuading the Legislature to tighten the law on paralegals, noted Keith A. Grimes, president of Legal Data, a paralegal firm in Las Vegas. Such firms, he said, provide valuable services for small business that cannot afford a lawyer to prepare routine legal forms and for middle- and lower-income individuals.

"Many people simply cannot afford to pay attorneys to prepare forms at the rate of $100 to $300 per hour," Grimes said in prepared testimony. "Independent paralegals can prepare these often-repetitive forms at a fraction of the cost."

Grimes also suggested misconduct by attorneys was far more prevalent than wrongdoing by paralegals, and the bar association, the organization of licensed lawyers, should clean its own shop "before attacking other professions."

Assembly Bill 18, sought by the bar association, would require the Nevada Supreme Court to define the practice of law and increase the penalty for practicing law without a license from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor. If the same offense were committed within seven years, it could escalate to a felony.

About 5,000 lawyers practice in Nevada. About 1,600 complaints were filed against lawyers last year.

The Consumer Protection Committee of the bar association, received 50 to 60 complaints about "egregious violations" of standards by paralegals in the last year, Klearman, chairman of the committee, said. In some cases, the complaints have been turned over to the district attorney for prosecution. In others, a court injunction is sought against the business.

Attorneys claim the present law doesn't have the teeth to stop paralegals from practicing law and harming their clients.

An abundance of programs offer a lawyer's services either free or at a low cost to indigent families, Andrew Puccinelli, president of the Nevada State Bar, testified. Many lawyers, he said, "don't charge any more than $75 an hour" for their service to people in lower income brackets.

Puccinelli said he has paralegals in his office but he believes they should always be under "direct supervision" of an attorney. "Without supervision, they do not have a place in the legal system," said Puccinelli of Elko.

Gary Richter, manager of Legal Self Help, a paralegal firm in Las Vegas, said he can't understand why lawyers won't sit down and try to work out a solution with paralegals. "We do not understand why Nevada has to have a law creating a new class of felons," he said. If passed, the new law would invite a lawsuit to test its constitutionality, he added.

Richter said his company has been in business since September 1990 and has never had a complaint filed against it. It fields 50 phone calls a day, and company officials explain to the prospective customers that there are free legal services available from attorneys.